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"The disparate corporate interests again have made a joint-venture difficult
to sustain," Miller Tabak analyst David Joyce wrote in a research note on Wednesday.

Among other issues, some of Hulu's co-owners have started making their content available on other services,
including rival Netflix. In addition, the owners have grown increasingly uneasy about Hulu's business structure, and the lingering fear that free online video cannibalizes TV and paying audiences.

Still, among other would-be buyers, "Yahoo . . . would consider acquiring a stake in Hulu to solidify itself as an entertainment destination and a 'must-buy' for advertisers," notes Jordan Rohan,
an analyst with Stifel Nicolaus.

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Hulu's estimated $200 million in revenue this year 'implies superior monetization' compared with Google's YouTube, according to Rohan, who estimated that Hulu
makes about $14 for every thousand domestic video streams -- six times more than YouTube.

Therefore, "such an acquisition could be a very smart strategic move as the Yahoo sales force would be
able to cross-sell Hulu inventory with parts of Yahoo's own content initiative," Rohan added.

Neither Hulu or Yahoo would comment on the rumored acquisition talks.

Earlier this year, Hulu
management was reportedly thinking about recasting the site as an online cable operator, which would use the Web to send live TV channels and video-on-demand content to subscribers.